Space Launch Liability Indemnification Extension Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise today to bring to the floor, Madam Speaker, an amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3547. This is the consolidated appropriations package that will fund the government for the remainder of the 2014 fiscal year.
This omnibus contains all 12 regular appropriations bills for fiscal year 2014--funding every aspect of the Federal Government, from our national defense to critical transportation infrastructure to the education of our kids. In total, it provides $1.012 trillion in discretionary funding--the same level delineated in the Ryan-Murray budget agreement.
I am pleased that Senator Mikulski and I were able to come to this fair, bipartisan agreement on funding the government. Although our differences were many and our deadlines short, we were able to come together to draft a solid piece of legislation that meets the guidelines of the Ryan-Murray agreement and keeps the government open.
I understand that not everyone will like everything in this bill. That is the nature of compromise. But I believe this legislation reflects the best possible outcome. We made responsible choices to realign the Nation's funding priorities, targeting precious tax dollars to where they are needed the most.
We have continued the 4-year trend of reducing Federal discretionary spending, making a total of $165 billion in cuts since fiscal year 2010. In fact, this is the fourth straight year that we have cut discretionary spending. That has not happened since the Korean war. And we have remained committed on our side to our Republican principles: reducing regulatory burdens, fortifying our national security, and enforcing stringent oversight on the executive branch.
Throughout the bill, we have maintained pro-life policies and protected Second Amendment rights. We have made sure that this bill provides no new funding for ObamaCare, and have even cut existing ObamaCare funds to the tune of over $1 billion.
The Appropriations Committees in the House and Senate, working side-by-side, went line-by-line through thousands of agencies and the 12 regular appropriations bills to make sure that each program was weighed individually and received a funding level that supports their most current needs.
We have prioritized funding for the most important and effective programs and reduced lower-priority programs at the same time. For example, we did not include any funding for high-speed rail or three new Department of Homeland Security headquarter buildings, but we targeted funding to essential national defense activities, critical law enforcement programs, and lifesaving efforts, such as medical research.
This bill also includes an important provision fixing the Bipartisan Budget Act to ensure that those who have given the most in military service, the approximately 630,000 medically retired personnel and survivor benefit plan recipients, our disabled veterans, receive their full yearly cost-of-living increase.
Before I close, Madam Speaker, I would like to take a moment to thank the many, many people who were integral in getting this bill to the floor today.
First, I thank the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Mrs. Lowey. Thanks to her partnership and her dedication, we were able to wrap up this omnibus by the deadline, and I know her drive extends to our next challenge--the 2015 bills that we will start next month. In fact, the passage of this bill will allow the Appropriations Committee to get back to regular order, as they say, get the train back on track so that this coming year we can do 12 individual bills brought to the floor separately, as is the practice and is required. I want to thank her for her leadership in helping us get to that point.
Secondly, our counterparts in the Senate, whose open-minded approach to negotiations led to many honest and reasonable discussions throughout the many stages of this process. I don't know any appropriations bill that has gone through as many reasonable tests and, I think, wise decision processes as went into this bill. So I appreciated the work of the gen tle lady on the Senate side, the chairman of the committee there, Ms. Mikulski, and Senator Shelby of Alabama. We had wonderful times at Christmas and New Year's. Next time, as much as I love these people, I would rather be with my family.
Lastly, I want to thank the members and the staffs of the committee. They gave up countless hours of family time at Christmas, New Year's, and during the holidays in order to complete this bill. They really are the A-team. I am lucky to have all of them working for this committee. Without their hard work, expertise on the issues, and their commitment to this legislation, we would not be here today. We should all be grateful for their service. I hope that you will say something to them as you pass.
I would particularly like to recognize the clerk of the Agriculture Subcommittee, Martin Delgado. After 16 years, this is his last bill with the committee. How fortunate we have been to have him until the end. No one knows the ins and outs of Agriculture appropriations like he does. He is a true expert in every sense of the word. We will miss him dearly and wish him Godspeed.
Let me also mention the chief clerk of the committee, Will Smith, who sits beside me. He has led the effort from day one. He has put in untold numbers of hours--day and night, weekends, all-nights--to bring us to this point. He has been a great staff leader. He has done a fantastic job. I want you to say something to him.
On the other side of the aisle, his counterpart, David Pomerantz has been a terrific asset to the committee and to piecing together this very difficult, complex bill. We want to say thank you to David Pomerantz for his great work.
Jim Kulikowski, who also sits beside me, the number two clerk in the committee, has been invaluable in getting us to this point.
Madam Speaker, in closing, I would like to once again remind our colleagues that providing funding for our Federal Government is one of our chief duties as Members of Congress. In fact, I think it is the chief duty, one that we can't shirk. The people elected us to fulfill this duty and govern. To govern, you have got to pass these funding bills for the government.
As we pass these funding bills, the imprint of Members of Congress on these funding bills directs agencies of the executive branch to follow the will of the people represented here in this body. So this bill is a reflection of the need for Members of Congress, under the Constitution, to decide how and when and why money is spent by the executive branch. The people elected us to fulfill that duty, and this bill does just that. Three and a half months into the fiscal year, I would say it was just about past time that we pass this legislation.
So I urge an ``aye'' vote on the omnibus. We can send it to the Senate today for their approval and get it to the President for his signature as soon as possible. Certainly, before Saturday.
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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, most of the provisions of this bill were written by the subcommittees on the House and Senate side and worked out between them. One of the chief writers of the bill is Rodney Frelinghuysen, the new chairman of the Defense Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. His part of the bill was, by far, the biggest of anybody else's. It was only $572 billion.
I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Frelinghuysen) to explain that.
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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Yes, the gentleman from Ohio is correct. The bill includes additional funding for flood control studies, and the report direction encourages the Corps to consider economic development and job growth when allocating these funds to individual studies.
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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
If I were allowed to make reference to people in the gallery--which I am not allowed to--I would say we have over my right shoulder up there most of the staff of this committee who are responsible for this bill. If I were allowed to say so, I would want to congratulate and thank them for giving us their Christmas and New Year's and all of the heart and desire they have to bring us to where we are.
Madam Speaker, in closing, when you think about this room, this hallowed Chamber where we came together during times of crisis and in times of non-crisis, a place you can almost hear the words echo of MacArthur addressing this body, or Churchill, or President Wilson, and you remember that this is the Chamber where we all came together to survive the Depression, world wars beginning with I, and the dire days of World War II, and all the other wars, this is the place where the Nation found itself coming together.
I can't think of a more satisfying time that I have had in this Chamber in these years than now in helping bring together across the aisle and across the Capitol Members of the Senate and the House, doing what we are supposed to do, and that is governing and deciding how we want to spend the taxpayers' dollars for the country. I want to thank all who took part in that. It has been a great chore.
We had 30 days to put together a trillion-plus-dollar spending bill, get it approved in the Senate, controlled by another body, and to be signed by the President, another party from ours, on this side. It has been a great pleasure working with all of you.
This bill is not perfect, I hate to tell you, but it is a good one, and it represents the best traditions of the country in coming together, recognizing our common problems, then finding a way out of it.
I want to thank Mrs. Lowey and our colleagues in the Senate for all the work they put into it, and I urge an ``aye'' vote.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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